--:-- [Music plays in the background]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The music is back on Bourbon Street.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Just let them know that the love is still out here.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: People resume their lives as the FBI says a New Year's morning attacker acted alone.
--:-- Layla Fadel: What's their reading of the evidence?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I'm Steve Inskeep with Layla Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Members of the House of Representatives meet today.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Republicans are to elect a speaker, and Mike Johnson will need every vote he can get.
--:-- Layla Fadel: A very small number of holdouts would have the power to block him.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So what happens if he falls short?
--:-- Layla Fadel: Also, Israel moved into a U.N.-monitored buffer zone when the government collapsed in neighboring Syria.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Our correspondent visited the Golan Heights.
--:-- Layla Fadel: How are residents describing what Israeli troops are doing?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Stay with us.
--:-- Layla Fadel: We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Announcer: This message comes from BetterHelp.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: President Fernando Madeira describes how BetterHelp Online Therapy has helped him.
--:-- Fernando Madeira: For me, sometimes I just need to go and talk to somebody that is not going to judge me, right?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Is going to be there and going to listen to me.
--:-- Fernando Madeira: And I can't start just saying, look, I'm not feeling right today.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And it feels natural.
--:-- Fernando Madeira: I love it.
--:-- Layla Fadel: To get matched with a therapist, visit betterhelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This message comes from Mint Mobile.
--:-- Layla Fadel: If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Mint Mobile might be right for you with plans starting from 15 bucks a month.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Shop plans today at mintmobile.com slash switch.
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--:-- Layla Fadel: Taxes and fees extra.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: See Mint Mobile for details.
--:-- Layla Fadel: This message comes from Lisa.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Lisa mattresses are meticulously designed and assembled in the USA for exceptional quality,
--:-- Layla Fadel: and each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Plus, they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns, and a 100-night sleep trial.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Visit lisa.com for 25% off mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's L-E-E-S-A dot com, promo code NPR.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Federal investigators have clarified their understanding of what happened in New Orleans on New Year's morning.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Most notably, the FBI backed off of a vague statement that the driver of a pickup truck was not solely responsible for an attack on people on Bourbon Street.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now they confirm that, as they understand it now, Shamsa Deen Jabbar, an Army veteran from Texas, acted alone.
--:-- Layla Fadel: NPR's Debbie Elliott is in New Orleans with this and other developments.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Good morning, Debbie.
--:-- Layla Fadel: So why did the FBI first suggest a broader conspiracy and then back off?
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Well, another day of chasing down leads, and I think in particular a closer look at hundreds of hours of surveillance video.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You know, it shows Jabbar placing two explosive devices concealed in coolers in the French Quarter just a few blocks from the crash site.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: And as the investigation was unfolding, agents initially indicated that other people might have helped him plant those.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But after looking at all that video, it turned out to just be curious passersby who had stopped to check out the coolers on a street corner, right?
--:-- Debbie Elliott: FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Rhea, who's with the Counterterrorism Division at the agency, is urging those people to now call the FBI with whatever they saw.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Rhea had more information about Jabbar's motivation.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: The FBI says investigators have pieced together his activities leading up to the attack including that he posted several online videos proclaiming his support for ISIS and previewing the violence that was to come.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So it been a couple days now Bourbon Street is open again.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: What life like there in New Orleans?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Just hyper heightened security like I have never seen before.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: And I've covered this city for something like 30 years now.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The college football playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed by a day, was played in the Sugar Bowl without incident yesterday.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Officers are posted everywhere you look, including military police from the Louisiana National Guard.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Roads are blocked off around the Superdome.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Also in the French Quarter, where Bourbon Street, like you say, is back open.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: When I first went out there after it opened, there was still water fresh on the street from where the crime scene had been cleaned up.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: And already makeshift memorials, long-stem yellow roses for the 14 victims,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: people adding to that throughout the day.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: There seemed to be this determination not to let a terrorist sap the city's culture.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Darnell Sims is a drummer with the One Way Brass Band,
--:-- Debbie Elliott: and he told me it was important just to bring the street music back.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Just out here spreading peace and love and happiness to the people that we had lost out here on Bourbon on New Year's after the tragic terrorist attack.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Just let them know that the love is still out here.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He wasn't the only one trying to spread the love.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: As the band was playing on Bourbon, a man jogged down the street with a handmade flag that said love hoisted up on a fish pole.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So after a mass killing, mass violence like this, what are you hearing from people in New Orleans about how they're going to move forward?
--:-- Debbie Elliott: Certainly people are shaken up, sadness, shock, and questions about why local officials haven't done more to make Bourbon Street less vulnerable to an attack like this.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Kenzie Falk is a prowling vendor who was pushing his cart along Canal.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: He says he's just trying to keep things going despite the uncertainty.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: As of right now, everything is at a standstill.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: You know, everybody's like up in arms and like on their toes and trying to figure out what's next.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And what next are two more major national events, the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras here in New Orleans.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: And here's Debbie Elliott in New Orleans.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Thank you, Debbie.
--:-- Debbie Elliott: You're welcome.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- Layla Fadel: A new Congress is to be sworn in today,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: and the first order of business in the House is to elect a speaker.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Republicans have an even narrower majority than in the last Congress,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: which means they have to be close to unanimous to choose a leader.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Speaker Mike Johnson has the endorsement of President-elect Trump,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: and also faces a challenge from some Republican holdouts.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Joining us now is NPR's congressional correspondent, Claudia Grisales.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Hi, Claudia.
--:-- Layla Fadel: All right. So Mike Johnson was elected speaker after his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted from the job during a chaotic time
--:-- Claudia Grisales: and several other candidates lost bids to replace him.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What is Johnson facing this time around?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Well, potentially more chaos.
--:-- Layla Fadel: House Republicans are taking control of the lower chamber for this second Congress in a row.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And as we saw, the last couple of years brought us some good clues on how today could play out.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And as you mentioned, job one for the House today is to elect a new speaker.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And there will virtually be no House business until that gets done.
--:-- Layla Fadel: No new members sworn in, no legislative business.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And we already heard from House Republicans at the end of last year who said they were not so sure they would reelect Johnson to the speakership,
--:-- Claudia Grisales: even as he recently earned Trump's endorsement.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And as you mentioned, it's key, but it may not be enough.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I mean, this is an incoming Republican White House with Trump at the helm.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And Johnson held the position of speaker for the last 14 months.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Well first of all Johnson is coming into this new House with even tighter margins than we saw in the last couple of years when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for example ran for his position
--:-- Claudia Grisales: He could only lose two years ago a handful of Republicans to get that gavel in the 2023 election.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And he still had to go 15 rounds of ballots, days of intraparty fighting on the floor before he won that gavel.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So walk us through that process of how the House elects a new speaker.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What should we be watching for?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Well, Johnson will need a simple majority of a 435 member House,
--:-- Layla Fadel: so 218 votes.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And Republicans just have 219 members,
--:-- Claudia Grisales: so not a lot of breathing room at all,
--:-- Layla Fadel: particularly since Democrats are not expected to help Johnson or any other Republican get over the line.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So we already know of one GOP member who says he will vote no on Johnson,
--:-- Claudia Grisales: and it's possible others could follow.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Who are those possible no's?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Well, we know Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey has been pretty vocal.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He will vote against Johnson.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So that could open the floodgates for other House Republicans who want to vote no on Johnson as well.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Some Republicans will use this time for attention in the media or other potential spoilers may look at this as an opportunity to make a favorable deal with Johnson before they can get flipped to a yes.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So they will hold a lot of leverage in this moment.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So what, if anything, does this moment tell us about the new Congress?
--:-- Layla Fadel: Well, it's clearly a test for this new membership,
--:-- Claudia Grisales: especially House Republicans,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: and whether they will face the same dysfunction, the same intraparty fighting that dominated the last Congress.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And it's also a test of the influence Trump will exert over these members.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In his endorsement of Johnson, he noted that this should get done quickly,
--:-- Claudia Grisales: so Republicans can also quickly get to the work on a very long to-do list.
--:-- Layla Fadel: NPR's Claudia Grisales.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Thank you, Claudia.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Thank you.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- Layla Fadel: In the Golan Heights in southwest Syria,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: residents say Israeli troops are raiding their homes and villages,
--:-- Layla Fadel: and they ask if this is the start of a land grab.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Here's what we know so far.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Since the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Israel has conducted near-daily airstrikes across Syria,
--:-- Layla Fadel: and Israeli forces seized more territory in the Golan Heights.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We say more territory because Israel actually captured much of the Golan decades ago and didn't give it back.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Now they're moving into a buffer zone that is monitored by the United Nations.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Israel says the strikes and troop movements are all aimed at keeping their border secure.
--:-- Layla Fadel: NPR's Hadil El-Shalchi is just back from the Golan Heights and joins us now.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: Good morning.
--:-- Layla Fadel: So what did you find?
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: Well, the Golan Heights is a swath of land about 40 miles away from the capital, Damascus.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The land is hilly, dotted with olive groves and grazing cows.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: It's also surrounded by these beautiful snow-capped mountains.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I visited the province of Al-Qunaitra.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: It's part of which lies in this buffer zone that the Israelis entered a month ago.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Residents said the troops set up checkpoints,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: regularly entering their villages and searching homes for weapons.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: The Israeli military has said they're protecting itself and it coordinates its operations with the local population.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Troops have set up in areas of a village called Al-Hamadiya,
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: for example.
--:-- Layla Fadel: I was on its edge yesterday and saw a tank at a nuke checkpoint on the main road.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And also, wherever you go, there are these tank tracks all over the roads.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: And what did people say about what it's like to live with Israeli troops coming into their villages?
--:-- Layla Fadel: I heard a lot of fear in a village called Al-Ba'ath.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I spoke to one Syrian resident, Mohammed Farouk,
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: who lived maybe 300 yards away from where the Israelis had set up a checkpoint.
--:-- Layla Fadel: He said tanks roll into his village constantly.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Farrokh says his small daughter now wakes up at night shouting a tank a tank out of fear
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: In another village I went to Jebbet al the mayor told me he met with Israeli troops and they told him they wanted to enter their homes to search for weapons
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So to keep the troops out, the mayor went back to his community,
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: rounded up any weapons they had, and handed them over to the Israeli military.
--:-- Layla Fadel: I also met with one displaced Syrian family who said Israeli troops moved into their village and forced them out of their homes,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: demolishing buildings along the way.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: And what's the Israeli military saying about all this?
--:-- Layla Fadel: Well, we asked the Israeli military for comment about all those incidents.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We're waiting for their response.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: And there's also been reports of anti-Israeli protests in various villages.
--:-- Layla Fadel: In Suesa, for example,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I met two young men who were injured when they said Israeli troops shot into the crowd.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: We're waiting on Israeli comment on that incident also.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And what are Syrians saying about this seizure of land?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Right. So, well, for context, Israel seized and occupied the Golan Heights from Syria during the Arab-Israeli War of 1967.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: And then they began settling the land.
--:-- Layla Fadel: The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And in 74, the two countries agreed to create this buffer zone in part of the Golan Heights.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: And that's the area that the Israeli military entered yesterday.
--:-- Layla Fadel: So all of this is making Syrians worry that the move may mean more annexation, more displacement, and probably more settlements.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And what have the new leaders of Syria, the rebel group Hayat Tahrid Hashem or HTS and Israel said about the situation?
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: I mean, Israel has been adamant.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: A couple of weeks ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the seized buffer zone and said, quote, we will stay until another arrangement ensures Israel's security.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: And for HTS, not a lot.
--:-- Layla Fadel: The residents of the villages I visited said they hadn't heard much from them and HTS hadn't sent any forces to even protect them.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR's Hadil al-Shalchi in Damascus, thank you.
--:-- Hadil El-Shalchi: You're welcome.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- Layla Fadel: Again, we have requested comment from the Israeli military about these village raids and what residents told us.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They haven't gotten back to us.
--:-- Layla Fadel: If they do, we will note their response in additional reporting.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that's our first for this Friday, January 3rd.
--:-- Layla Fadel: I'm Leila Fadel.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: You are, Steve.
--:-- Layla Fadel: I would love to be.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I would, you know, I'd be a distinguished foreign correspondent dashing about the world.
--:-- Layla Fadel: You already do that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That's your program.
--:-- Layla Fadel: I guess it's true.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Wait a second.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Hold on.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Wait a minute.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And that's Up First for this Friday, January 3rd.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I'm Steve Inskeep.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And I'm Layla Faldin.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Don't forget, Up First airs on the weekend, too.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Ayesha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news here or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Today's Up First was edited by Russell Lewis.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Martin Patience, who has an awesome name,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: wouldn't you agree?
--:-- Layla Fadel: Kelsey Snell, also an awesome name, if you ask me.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Jan Johnson, nice name.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Alice Wolfley.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It was produced by Katie Klein,
--:-- Layla Fadel: Nia Dumas, and Julie Deppenbrock.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We get engineering support from Nisha Hines,
--:-- Layla Fadel: and our technical director is Carly Strange.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Join us Monday.
--:-- Layla Fadel: What about my name?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Your name is amazing.
--:-- Layla Fadel: All these names.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Carly Strange. That is so great.
--:-- [Music transitions to a sponsor message]
--:-- Announcer: This message comes from Progressive Insurance.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies.
--:-- Announcer: Try it at Progressive.com.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.
--:-- Announcer: Potential savings will vary.
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--:-- Announcer: This message comes from NPR sponsor, Capella University.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Interested in a quality online education?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Capella is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
--:-- Announcer: A different future is closer than you think with Capella University.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Learn more at capella.edu.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Support for this podcast and the following message come from Arm.
--:-- Layla Fadel: In the latest episode of their podcast, Tech Unheard,
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Arm CEO Renee Haas talks with Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian about AI and the future of education and innovation.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Available on all podcast platforms.
